The present invention relates to vehicle covers, and in particular to retractable vehicle covers. The cover of the type pertaining to the invention can be used for protection of a vehicle in a storage condition from heat, sun rays, snow, and hail.
In many countries, the automobile has become the most common method of transportation. Most automobiles are manufactured primarily of metal, and the metal is painted to protect it from oxidation and other influences detrimental to the finish. Automobile surface finish degradation may be caused by sun rays, bird droppings, tree sap and pollens, snow and ice, frost, etc.
One way to prevent damage to the surface finish of an automobile is to store the car in a garage when it is not being used. Unfortunately, there are many more cars than garages, so this solution leaves many cars outdoors.
Another way to help preserve the finish on an automobile or other vehicle is to cover the vehicle with a vehicle cover when it is not in use. Such vehicle covers are generally made of a fabric or textile such as canvas (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,381 issued in 2001 to P. O""Brein). The vehicle cover may be stored in a convenient place such as the car trunk, then taken out and unfolded, and then installed on the vehicle. When the vehicle must be used, the cover is removed, allowed to dry (if necessary), folded up, and stored. One problem associated with this design is inconvenience: it takes time to fold and unfold, and store, the vehicle cover.
One variant on the vehicle cover solution is the self-storing vehicle cover. This type of cover is typically provided in a container, which may be used to store the cover. When the cover is to be used, the cover is removed from the container, and when the cover is to be stored, it is returned to the container. A number of self-storing vehicle covers have been patented, but they all suffer from various problems.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,181 granted to Thompson in 1996 discloses a roll-up vehicle cover. This cover could be rolled up around a cylinder, which could then be stored in the vehicle""s trunk. While this design provided for a storable cover, it was inconvenient and cumbersome to use, because after use, the cover had to be removed from the vehicle roof, manually rolled up, the bundle carried to the trunk of the vehicle, the trunk opened, the bundle placed inside, and the trunk closed. Deployment of this cover required all these steps to be performed, but in the reverse order. Another essential disadvantage of this cover is that the rolled up portions covers only the roof, hood, and trunk portions of the vehicle, and an additional flaps has to be buttoned or hooked to the unrolled flaps for covering the sides of the vehicle body.
Tung-Chow was granted U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,446 issued in 1989 for a road vehicle flexible cover, which is stored in a box in the vehicle trunk. While this design provided for motorized retraction of the cover, its storage box occupied a substantial amount of the trunk floor space, right in the center part of the trunk floor. In addition, this design required the trunk be opened and closed every time the cover was deployed or stored. The ""446 design was also necessarily complex because it used an electric motor with an electrical wire running to the dash of the vehicle. The protective canvas comprises a folded bundle, which, after unwinding from the storage box, has to be unfolded for covering the top and sides of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,759 issued in 2000 to T. Adamek is, in general, similar to aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,181 and is aimed at improvement of the device of the last-mentioned U.S. Patent.
More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,759 discloses a retractable vehicle cover comprising at least one cover reel and at least one extension line reel disposed within a housing. The cover reel and the extension line reel are biased in a retracted position. Each cover reel contains a cover, and each extension line reel contains an extension line. At least one cover leading edge extends from the housing, and at least one extension line extends through each cover leading edge. An extension line cover stop allows the extension line(s) to extend a cover, and an extension line end stop prevents extension line retraction into the housing. The housing is aerodynamically shaped to reduce drag on a vehicle upon which the retractable vehicle cover is mounted. Each cover leading edge is equipped with a cover strip magnet that holds the cover in an extended position. In the alternative, the cover strip magnet may be adhered to a ferromagnetic strip on the housing, which securely holds the cover leading edge in a retracted position. The housing may comprise a housing strip magnet by means of which the retractable vehicle cover may be removably mounted on a vehicle. The problem associated with the fact that the rolled up portions covers only the roof, hood, and trunk portions of the vehicle, and that additional flaps have to be connected to the unrolled cover for covering the sides of the vehicle body, remains unsolved.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a retractable vehicle cover, which can be placed onto the roof of a vehicle and deployed into a three-dimensional structure that protects the vehicles from all sides. It is another object to provide a retractable vehicle cover that consists of three pivotally interconnected cassettes that contain wound rolls of a flexible cover material. Still another object is to provide a retractable vehicle cover of the aforementioned type that can be removably attached to a luggage rack on the roof of the vehicle.
The vehicle cover of the invention consists of three pivotally interconnected cassettes with rolls of a flexible protective cover material stored in each of the cassettes and unwoundable through a slit in the side of the cassette, similar to a photo film that can be pulled out from a film cassette. In a folded state the cassettes are arranged side by side parallel to each other. Each cassette consists of two parallel sections with the flexible material in each section wound in mutually opposite directions so that the protective flexible materials of each section can be pulled out in mutually opposite directions. The first and third cassettes are pivotally connected to the second, i.e., the intermediate cassette, so that they can be turned by 90xc2x0 with respect to the intermediate cassette. Thus, when the battery of three parallel cassettes is placed onto the vehicle""s roof, and the first and third cassettes are turned by 90xc2x0, the flexible materials contained in the sections of these two cassettes can be pulled out in opposite directions and to cover the sides of the vehicle body, while the materials stored in the sections of the intermediate cassette can be pulled out for covering the entire top portion of the vehicle body. The ends of the flexible materials may be provided with hooks or other means for securing the materials to the vehicle body in a retracted position. The cassette sections contain spiral springs located in the end face portions of the cassettes. The springs are connected to the edges of flexible materials and are intended for retracting the material back into the cassette section once they released from attachment to the vehicle body. Device can be provided with a guide frame attachable to the luggage rack on the vehicle""s roof and used for moving the first and third cassettes in lateral directions for turning the cassettes to the operation positions from more convenient location on the vehicle""s roof.